TAS
Senior Member
That's quite the wall to west and south of this new little 6-storey project.
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Lilac Park | 20.2m | 6s | Westrich Pacific | J+S Architect
- Thread starter IanO
- Start date
That's quite the wall to west and south of this new little 6-storey project.
ChazYEG
Senior Member
Glenco
Senior Member
Helsinki for reference
archited
Senior Member
^ If only!
David A
Senior Member
Well at least we can't use the excuse that it is a winter city or too cold to build nicer buildings here anymore. Helsinki definitely has a familiar wintery feel to in that picture.
Jhawk
New Member
Are you asking me? If so, I’m not sure why. The poster asked why there aren’t more high rises and I was offering an answer.
Personally, I like to see a balanced mix of housing types. IMO, Edmonton and Calgary have the best mix of new housing. SFH’s, rowhomes, and apartments. My city of Vancouver is heavily geared to apartments and not much else.
Jhawk
New Member
High rise buildings are always in fashion as long as the dollars work. There were some builds in Edmonton in recent years when the interest rates were lower. House prices need to be higher for it to work.
That’s why a similar sized city like Calgary has 22 high rises u/c and Ottawa has a dozen compared to 1 in Edmonton. Ottawa’s always had a lot of high rise construction, but it’s spread out over the city donut tends not to be very noticeable. Until just recently Ottawa had 25 high rises u/c.
David A
Senior Member
Being so spread out may explain why high rises are not as noticeable in downtown Ottawa. IMO high rises are generally better suited for more central areas.
Of course, being in Ontario housing prices are higher there than in Alberta, although I'm not sure if everyone living in those high rises are happy to be there or stuck there because they can't afford something else.
Of course, being in Ontario housing prices are higher there than in Alberta, although I'm not sure if everyone living in those high rises are happy to be there or stuck there because they can't afford something else.
Edmcowboy11
Senior Member
I think there's still plenty of room for plenty of high rises throughout the downtown area. The area surrounding the new park I think works pretty decent with these shorter buildings. Still plenty of people moving into the area eventually so overall I think we're okay. When there's time for more high rises then we'll see more high rises.
ChazYEG
Senior Member
While the calculation details for ROI can be complex, the overall logic that will get us to more high rises being built is simple:
More people in the area -> more eyes on the street and more vibrancy
More eyes on the street and more vibrancy -> better perception and more successful businesses
Better perception and more successful business -> more attractive for more people and businesses
More attractive areas -> higher rental/sale prices
Higher rental/sale prices -> better margins
Better margins -> more expensive builds pencil out = higher likelihood of high rises being built
Some of these relations are not as direct or may happen simultaneously to others, but the overall takeaway for me is: these low and mid rises we're getting will very likely pave the way to high rises in the future, and it is not going to be for lack of space for that. We still have a huge sea of parking lots all over downtown, including the CBD, where high rises will probably happen in the not so distant future.
That said, it would be nice if we could get higher quality designs and finishes overall, but I also don't think most of the stuff being built downtown is as crappy as many here say.
More people in the area -> more eyes on the street and more vibrancy
More eyes on the street and more vibrancy -> better perception and more successful businesses
Better perception and more successful business -> more attractive for more people and businesses
More attractive areas -> higher rental/sale prices
Higher rental/sale prices -> better margins
Better margins -> more expensive builds pencil out = higher likelihood of high rises being built
Some of these relations are not as direct or may happen simultaneously to others, but the overall takeaway for me is: these low and mid rises we're getting will very likely pave the way to high rises in the future, and it is not going to be for lack of space for that. We still have a huge sea of parking lots all over downtown, including the CBD, where high rises will probably happen in the not so distant future.
That said, it would be nice if we could get higher quality designs and finishes overall, but I also don't think most of the stuff being built downtown is as crappy as many here say.
Kosy123
Senior Member
My controversial take in this forum is I ACTUALLY like the Westrich midrises in downtown lol
David A
Senior Member
I pretty much agree with this. In particular, having more buildings and more people will improve the feel of the area, making it more desirable and more likely for high rises to be built downtown in the future.
However, between the park and the new buildings being built the sea of parking lots in this area is shrinking considerably and will be more like a pond after.
IanO
Superstar
Offworld
Active Member
Yeah sure, whatever. If you like suburban development downtown...
TAS
Senior Member
It's a tradeoff, and I'm glad for the student housing as we want more people living downtown - but are we continuing to cement our downtown's fate as not being a living option for families? I was listening to a podcast about the difference between Seattle and Vancouver. The former had primarily studio and 1 bedroom units in its developments downtown versus Vancouver that provided a much higher percentage of larger 2 and 3 bedroom units that were mandated and which resulted in attracting so many other kinds of business and amenities. When a large majority of units are studio and 1 bedroom in developments, it's gameover for ever attracting families to live downtown and the benefits that brings.